Measurements of mass and volume flow rates of fluid through a conduit are a part of operations in the oil and gas industry. One of the tools used to accomplish such a measurement is an ultrasonic flow meter. Ultrasonic flow meters are a class of flow meters that determine volumetric flow of a fluid within a conduit using ultrasonic signals propagated through the fluid.
Ultrasonic flow meters offer an advantage of generating an abundance of diagnostic data that may reveal potential problems in the performance of the meter. However, shifts in the diagnostic data have been difficult to interpret because the data is most often reviewed after either new meter calibration or field failures of the meter. Industry practice calls for fixed routine maintenance and mandatory recalibration intervals of flow meters. Such a maintenance and recalibration schedule may be expensive and time-consuming. Furthermore, if it is performed on a fixed interval, it is uncertain whether the meter actually requires such work to be performed. Thus, the abundance of diagnostic data provided by the flow meter is not being used efficiently.
There has been some practice of trending a limited quantity of diagnostic parameters with time in order to glean additional information. However, current methodologies are incomplete and lack optimization. These methodologies fall short of providing data significant enough to curb the need for fixed maintenance and calibration intervals. Additionally, current methods are not able to predict system performance beyond the flow meter such as an upstream pipe condition.